“Yeah, sorry, Jonus told me, but I wasn’t sure if you were telling anyone yet.”
“No worries. Garlen knew before I even took a test. He could scent it. I’m only about ten weeks. Nothing to see yet. But try telling that to five orcs who’ve been acting like I’m made of glass since approximately five minutes after we had sex.”
“He could just — smell it?”
“Immediately.” She looks equal parts delighted and exasperated. “It’s been a whole thing.”
“I bet.”
“Anyway.” She picks her mug back up. “You asked how I ended up here. How much time do you have?”
“Apparently I’m not walking anywhere for the foreseeable future, so…”
She laughs. “Mom, Zoe and I originally moved into the house next door last summer. I got a really good job teaching at the Academy and Zoe goes to school there too. Since my dad had passed away and my mom was let go from her corporate job, she decided to call herself officially retired and she moved up here with us. Two weeks before Christmas I got the surprise of my life. Garlen and his cousins moved in next door and on that first day I happened to meet Garlen in the front yard. He inhaled my scent and instantly knew I was his mate.”
I blink. “That fast?”
“Yeah, I guess it’s something that happens to all orcs. But it happened more intensely for Garlen because first, it was winter and we were literally standing in snow. Historically, orcs claim their brides in the dark of winter, so they are susceptible to acting primal about those urges at that time of year. And there was another layer to all of this, the Irontrees are also known to be a lineage that goes extra-ordinarily feral for a mate in the dark of winter.”
“Did Garlen go feral?”
“Oh, yes. It was a bit terrifying. He was snarling and growling, ready to kidnap me off the street and carry me to a snowy cave in the mountains to have his way with me. But Jonus and the others mobilized right away. They tackled him to the ground, chained him up, and dragged him back to this mansion. They kept him caged and chained in the basement for most of the winter just so he wouldn’t come back here and try to…well…” She grins.
“Wow,” I laugh. “And yet you don’t sound all that horrified.”
She bites her lip. “Is it bad that I wasn’t? A part of me was like ‘unchain him, let him have his way with me.’” And then it got worse. One day he was attacked with a scent bomb which caused him to go super feral. He instantly grew three times his size, busted out of the cage and raced across town. He found me justas school was letting out.” She pauses. “Someone filmed it. The whole world saw that moment.”
“I remember that story.” I shake my head slowly. “I read about that for work. That was Garlen?”
“Yep. That was us.” She says it with a combination of mortification and pride. “I managed to talk him down, held his hand and walked him back home. After that I made the decision to move into the mansion with him. He moved from the basement cage to his bedroom.” She meets my eyes. “And I moved in with him.”
“While he was still chained?”
“Yes. His mobility was limited. He chose to keep the chains on until spring. He wanted to wait until he was completely free and sane and could choose him without any of that hanging over us.”
I’m quiet for a moment. “That’s not what I expected orcs to be like.”
“Modern orcs don’t kidnap and they are very serious about consent.”
I look down at my coffee mug, thinking about a seven-foot-tall orc sleeping next to a woman he wanted desperately, choosing every single night to stay chained so her choice would be completely free. “What happened in spring?”
Ellie’s smile widens. “They removed the chains on March twenty-first. We got married the same day.” A beat. “And then?—”
“And then you got pregnant.”
“Immediately.”
We look at each other.
“Orc biology,” I say.
“Orc biology,” she agrees. “Which actually brings me to something I should explain. You’ll get pregnant almost immediately. Orc biology overrides human birth control completely. There’s no preventing it. When I married Garlen Iknew I had to be okay with getting pregnant right away and never having a daughter. Our children would always be male and look mostly like their father.”
“Okay. I’m processing.”
“Yeah, it’s a big deal. I already have a daughter, so there was less decision about that for me. But if you’re someone who always wanted the possibility of having a biological daughter this would be something to consider.”
“Thank you, that’s important.”
